Day Two – On the tools.
It’s not good losing anyone, especially friends. I was stunned to hear about Karl Harris today. Right now I’m having a beer for him, Simon Andrews and Bob Price.
We spent the day going from top to bottom on the bikes. We’re having to reinvent the wheel with the supertwin. I was carrying to much lean angle for the standard rim with the 190 section tyre that the bike was built around. The contact patch was too small and I was getting chatter and slides. Much head scratching followed and when we spoke to Dunlop, they suggested going down to a 160 rear. That meant the geometry, gearing and everything needed resetting. It was a back to the drawing board kind of day. I’ll get one chance to see if works tomorrow after the Supersport race if the weather holds. If it doesn’t I’ll be going into the race blind. I’ll know by the bottom of Bray hill if the changes have worked. In for a penny in for a pound, eh. We also looked at the Supersport bike after the problems I had with it in the race. We changed the spring in the back and the ride height in the front, put a new steering damper and a new clutch in, despite the old clutch being brand new for the race. We struggled to figure out exactly why we had the problems we did. Things that don’t happen anywhere else always happen here.
Hicky is going well, I’m looking forward to seeing if he can match Josh’s newcomer times. Dean Harrison has really come of age as well. His old man won on a sidecar too, his family are having a good week and he needs a pat on back for sure.
I was shocked to hear Gary Johnson crashed. I didn’t get the full details but heard he’s in good spirits. Things that don’t happen anywhere else always happen here. If everything goes to plan, I’ll get the Supersport race nailed and then get back out on the twin for a practice lap tomorrow. Suck it and see. Right, I’m off out for dinner with my family and some more head scratching.
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